


The tide comes in.

by bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb



Category: Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, Found Family, Gen, Sirens, maybe worldbuilding, shippers don't interact
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:13:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25674133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb/pseuds/bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb
Summary: pirates and sirensyes
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Comments: 50
Kudos: 250





	1. The storm rages

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Khio](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Khio/gifts), [Spaghettoi](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spaghettoi/gifts), [WreakingHavok](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WreakingHavok/gifts), [gashiina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gashiina/gifts).



Wilbur's climbing down the rigging when he hears the Quartermaster speak to the Captain.

It's already been a stormy night, wind whipping the ropes into his head, rain hammering at his skull.

"Captain, are you sure we should be getting so close to those rocks?" The older man asks.

"QM Phil, we won't run afoul of them." The Captain says, smiling with sharp teeth.

"Jawsh, it's just that I've heard tale of sirens around these parts."

Wilbur, who was rushing past, lets out a loud snort.

The Captain catches it. "You, boy, come here."

Schlatt, one of the other riggers, scampers off before Wilbur can turn to him for help.

Wilbur walks forward, head bowed.

Jawsh clamps a hand on Wilbur's shoulder. "Now, what exactly are you laughing at, boy?"

"I'm laughing at the idea of sirens, Captain." Wilbur's never been one to back down from a challenge. "Don't think they're real."

He waits to be reprimanded, thrown overboard, anything.

"I'm with you on that, boy." The Captain remarks and Phil laughs.

"You say that now, Jawsh." Phil pauses. "But I've been sailing much longer than you have, and I've seen many things that cannot be explained away."

Jawsh laughs. "I think you've gone senile, Phil."

Jawsh claps Wilbur on the back, sending him stumbling forward. "You are dismissed, boy."

"Yes, Captain," Wilbur says and runs off to help the other riggers.

"How the fuck did you not manage to get in trouble?" Schlatt asks and Wilbur shrugs.

The storm picks up, and Wilbur loses his grip on the mast many times.

The storm roars around them, and Wilbur has to strain his ears to hear the orders of the rigging master.

He runs around the deck, slipping and sliding as he hurries to tie-down ropes that came loose.

Waves batter the boat back and forth, and Wilbur struggles to get his bearings, even though he has his sealegs.

It's pouring now, and Wilbur can't tell if the sea or the storm is getting more rain on the deck.

"Tell the Captain that there are rocks port-side!" Someone nearby yells to him.

He turns and yells at the next person. "Tell Captain that there are rocks port-side!"

The person next to him nods. They pass it to the next person, who passes it to the next and the next until it reaches the Captain.

Thunder roars again and Wilbur is reminded of a tale his mother told him. The Wild Hunt, a group of fae hunters in the sky, chasing after storms.

Then a blinding light breaks open the sky.

"Lightning!" Someone yells out, and Wilbur glances up at the mast of the ship.

He's heard tales of lightning striking ships and the ships catching on fire.

He hopes it doesn't happen here.

Another bolt of lightning streaks across the sky and Wilbur adverts his eyes.

He stares out at the rocks near the boat.

And when another lightning bolt crackles across the sky, Wilbur startles, because he swears he saw a pale, human-shaped figure sitting on one of the rocks.

But that couldn't possibly be. The storm is raging too hard for anyone to be sitting on the rocks, 10 meter swells that slam the boat, giant fists intent on smashing the boat to bits., sea spray white and foam-filled that collects in pockets and crevices, some even sticking in Wilbur's hair.

He opens his mouth to ask for assistance, only to get a mouthful of saltwater. He coughs, rib cage rattling as his body rejects the water.

Just when he's recovered, a wave rocks the boat so hard that he's thrown to the floor. It steals the air from his lungs, and he stays on the floor for a moment.

He tries to push himself up but only manages to slip and fall again.

Someone grabs his hand and pulls him upright. It's Phil.

"Watch your balance, alright kid? We wouldn't want to lose you."

Wilbur nods. "Yessir."

Then they hear a call, one of the worst that you can hear out at sea.

"MAN OVERBOARD!"

Phil's face pales and Wilbur gasps. They run to the railing and they peer down at the choppy water.

"I can't see anything," Wilbur says. The oceans raging too hard for him to see anything other than crashing waves.

He looks again at the rocks, trying not to think of sailors being dashed to bits on them.

And startles because they are much closer to the rocks and now he can see a human silhouette perched atop the rocks. It looks like a child.

Then he hears it.

"FUCK YOU, YOUR MOM'S A BITCH." It comes from the boy on the rocks.

A man next to Wilbur grips the railing. As Wilbur watches, the man's eyes frost over, a glazed rage that's festering.

"My mom's not a bitch." The man says.

The boy on the rock smiles and Wilbur spots a tail.

It's a siren.

A dangerous thing.

And it's still a child.

"COME AND FIGHT ME THEN!" The siren calls.

The man's hand strays to his sword.

"It's a child," Wilbur bursts out.

The man does not listen and leaps overboard, sword drawn.

In the water, Wilbur spots a flash of silver.

There's another siren, lurking beneath the waves.

_ Oh god, oh god, _ Wilbur thinks because he has remembered something else in those stories of sirens.

That can't be true, no way.

The storm still rages.

What is he supposed to do?

Phil is running around, giving people wax.

He places two bits of wax in Wilbur's hand and Wilbur stares blankly down at it.

"Put it in your ear, boy. You can't hear them if you do that."

It seems true. Phil's eyes are clear and bright, and his face is full of concern, not overflowing rage.

Wilbur shoves the wax in his ears and realizes that he's standing way too close to the railing.

As if he-

As if he-

As if he was gonna go too.

No wonder Phil looked so worried.

And then things get worse.

The storm picks up and Wilbur is thrown to the floor.

When he stands up, he spots Schlatt. Schlatt, who's quick to anger, who is currently yelling at the siren on the rock.

Wilbur runs over. He holds Schlatt back from the railing. He can't spot Phil anywhere and Schlatt's thrashing against his grip.

Wilbur takes the wax pieces out of his ears and puts them in Schlatt's.

His friend slowly comes back to earth and they make brief eye contact, as Schlatt realizes what happened.

Then a wave hits the boat, almost knocking the boat on its side.

And Wilbur is knocked off of the boat.

He hits the water with a painful splash.

He's tossed around, as riptides pull and drag him.

He can't get his bearing and soon loses track of up and down.

_ I'm going to drown, _ he realizes.

And he accepts his fate.

The storm sounds beautiful from under the water.

The air leaves his lungs, bubbles revealing the way to the sky.

It's too late for him to swim.

His vision is tunneling.

The last thing that he sees before succumbing to dark raging waters is the flash of a pink tail.


	2. Wake up bitch

He doesn't wake up for a while.

Things haze in front of his mind's eye. His mother's smile, a billowing sail, glaring sun, a raging  _ storm that threw him under the waves- _

Then he's blissfully blank again and only dreams of calm waters and the cries of birds, warm sand, and the laughter of his friends.

There are still moments where he's aware that things are happening around him and to him.

"Poke." Comes the voice of a small child.

_ So annoying _ is the only coherent thought that crosses his mind.

Something pokes his arm.

"Tommy, stop poking at the human." Says a monotone voice.

"I'm not poking him!"

"Yes, you are!" 

"You aren't even looking how would you know?" 

"You say poke every time you poke it." 

"No, I don't!"

"Whatever."

"Poke."

"YOU JUST DID IT AGAIN."

"NO, I DIDN'T."

He falls back into full unconsciousness.

_ Wake up bitch _ , comes into his consciousness at some point and he rolls over.

There's light on his face. He blinks blearily, struggling out of slumber.

"'M up, I'm up." He says, arm reaching out to shake Schlatt awake as well.

His hand falls through empty air as he tries to grab something that isn't there.

_ What the fuck? _

He isn't resting in a hammock, swaying above the floor.

He isn't on a damp wooden floor either.

He's resting on shifting sands and  _ Oh God, something is wrong. _

He pushes himself into a sitting position. The sand burns under his hands, and he hisses at the pain.

He squints in the glaring light.

He's in a cavern.

To everyone else, it would be a beautiful sight.

Surrounded by bluish-grey rock, dappled with reflected light, spotted with light green moss. The walls of the cavern slope upward to show a hole in the ceiling, showing a clear blue sky.

A light breeze comes in, and it ruffles his hair.

The water moves, lapping at the shore.

But all Wilbur can focus on is that he is surrounded by different pools of water, with no way out. There's no way he could climb out either. Stalactites and stalagmites make that option too deadly.

He spots pieces of a shipwreck in a corner. It's old and dried out, but that doesn't stop him from thinking that it's the one that he was on. The one that he called home.

_ Fuck! Home! I gotta get home, I gotta get out! _

He hears a small splash to the right of him.

He turns around.

A young face appears behind the rock.

It's the siren from before.

Long blond hair and a strangely angelic face.

Wilbur feels a strange sense of compassion for the child.

Then the child opens his mouth.

"Hi, I'm Tommy. Techno said you should've woken up a few days ago, but I guess you're just weaker than he expected."

Wilbur scoffs at that and walks away from Tommy. He feels himself getting angry and that just adds on to his brewing fear.

"You know, you're the first human I've met. Techno says humans are super violent, he didn't even want me to be in the same cave as you but you seem nice enough."

"Yeah, well I've heard that sirens eat people so I believe we're at an impasse."

Tommy is silent.

Wilbur suddenly has the urge to apologize, to go and console Tommy.

He shakes himself out of it.

This not a child, this is something that could kill him.

A loud sniffle echoes through the cave.

_ Fuck that, I just made a child cry. _

"Tommy? Tommy? Tommy, I'm sorry."

"Fuck off," the boy snaps.

The water starts making slightly bigger waves and Wilbur shrinks back, because  _ oh god there's another tail in the water! _

"Tommy are you okay?" The man with the pink tail says, rushing over to where Tommy is floating. "Did the human do something?"

The words curl into his head and settle in his stomach like bricks.

_ Why did that hurt so much? _

Tommy shakes his head. "No, the human didn't do anything, Techno."

_ What the hell kinda name is Techno? _

"Just said something fucking rude is all."

Techno looks back over at Wilbur with contempt in his eyes. "What he'd say, Tommy?"

Tommy ducks his head.

"'e said that we eat people."

A terrifying silence.

"what?"

"Wilbur said that sirens eat people."

"Thanks for the clarification, Tommy," Wilbur says and regrets the words as soon as they escape his mouth.

"You know each other's names?"

Techno turns to look at Wilbur with such rage in his eyes that Wilbur instinctively backs away. And he trips over a rock because something is hellbent on making his life awful.

"Oh shit," Tommy says and if Wilbur wasn't unconscious he would have laughed.

"-planning on doing with him?"

"We will get there when we get there."

"That's not a good answer."

"Shut up."

"You shut up, bitch."

Silence again.

And he dreams more of the same.

Warm pleasant memories are broken apart with storms and roaring waters only to be repaired with nice memories of being out at sea.

He wakes up to Tommy's face peering down at him.

He jerks back and falls over.

"Stop moving so much, dickhead."

Tommy looks concerned.

"You keep hitting your fucking head dude. Not a smart move."

"Thanks," Wilbur says.

"Yeah, Techno's putting out a call to a friend. He isn't so great with humans and I'm a bit more of a gamer than a doctor."

Wilbur chuckles at that.

A splash at the entrance.

"Techno, what's the news?" Tommy asks.

Techno swims towards them and sits on the same rock as Tommy.

"Niki says we gotta keep a close eye on him. Make sure he doesn't stop breathing." Techno sighs. "And he needs fresh water and cooked fish cause apparently humans cant eat it raw."

"You're going to let me live?" The words tumble out from a dry throat.

Techno looks at Wilbur in astonishment. "Of course we are! Why the fuck do you think we'd go through all that trouble for nothing?"

"I- I dunno."

Techno rolls his eyes. "Humans, dumb as rocks." He mutters.

Tommy lets out a laugh at that.

"Anyways, freshwater we can't get for you til it rains-"

"Which could be weeks!" Tommy chimed in happily.

"Yes, thank you, Tommy. But I think I can call in a favor or two."

"Okay," Wilbur says.

"Okay? Cool. In the meantime, Tommy, don't you have questions for the human?"

"Yes, I do!"

The boy leans forward.

"Is it true that all humans go to something called Church Prime?"

_ oh no. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me updating? and it not being good at all?
> 
> its more likely than you think

**Author's Note:**

> this is for binu and i have more chapters awaiting.


End file.
